1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing system including a multifunction peripheral acquiring image data by a scanning function, a host server and an information processing terminal connected through a network. More particularly, the present invention relates to registration and deletion of a condition setting (profile) to use for reading of a document in a MFP.
2. Description of the Related Art
Multifunction peripherals (hereinafter, simply referred to as MFPs) that acquire image data by a scanning function are in widespread use. Generally, such MFPs are often used in an information processing system including a server and information processing terminals such as a personal computer (PC) connected through a network. A MFP is connected to the network to be a part of the information processing system, and receives printing data from each information processing terminal in the information processing system and transmits read image data to each information processing terminal or the server. Thus, the MFP is used as, so to speak, a public input-output device in the information processing system by users who operate the information processing terminals.
For example, the users may use the MFP forming a part of the information processing system by creating settings for scanning and printing jobs with the information processing terminals and registering the settings in the MFP as profiles to use the registered profiles at the time of job execution. When a job is executed, a user searches an appropriate profile from the profiles registered in the MFP. When the MFP has the appropriate profile, it is selected. When the MFP does not have the appropriate profile, a new profile is registered and used. The MFP executes a scanning or printing job according to the selected or newly registered profile.
Recently, there have been an increasing number of cases where portable personal computers, so-called mobile PCs are used as the information processing terminals. A user connects a mobile PC to the above-mentioned information processing system temporarily and uses the MFP in the information processing system as the input-output device. For example, a document saved in the mobile PC is printed with the MFP or a document is scanned with the MFP and a read image data is introduced into the mobile PC. Thus, some users use the information processing system not only via the information processing terminals fixedly connected to the information processing system but also via mobile PCs temporarily connected to the information processing system.
In such usage, a profile is registered for the temporary use by the user, and the registered profile is left in the MFP even after the end of a job according to the profile. This is because the profile, necessary or unnecessary, is to be accumulated in the MFP unless the user manually deletes the profile.
Against this problem, there is a known information processing system in which a MFP registers a box (theoretical storage place) for each user for storing image data and the registration of the box is erased when it is determined that the use history of the box fulfills preset registration erasure conditions (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-184612, for example).
The term “profile” used herein means data defining operating conditions for execution of scanning and printing in the MFP. The term “ad hoc” means that a profile is of temporary use.
When unnecessary profiles are accumulated in the MFP, it will be less easy for a user of the MFP to find a profile necessary for the user. For executing a job, generally, the user logs in to an operation panel of the MFP to select the profile needed for executing the job. On a profile selection screen, on which the selection of the profile is performed, ad hoc profiles are displayed as well as profiles registered by the user. This is because it is convenient to treat the ad hoc profiles as, so to speak, public profiles, which do not belong to a specific user. Contrarily, however, it is inconvenient when too many ad hoc profiles are accumulated to prevent identification of the user's profiles on the profile selection screen.